Lakota Tech High School is a public high school in unincorporated Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, near the Pine Ridge census-designated place and with a Pine Ridge postal address. [1] It is in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It is a part of the Oglala Lakota County School District.
Its high school program is one of five high schools that are within the boundaries of the reservation. [2] Additionally, of all of the public high schools on Indian reservations, it is the only one focusing on technical and career-oriented curricula. [3]
Previously the district did not operate a high school building and required high school students staying with the district to attend virtual school. [4]
In August 2019, the district and the state of South Dakota began a partnership to establish the first non-Bureau of Indian Education public high school on the reservation. [5] Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota, jointly announced this with management of the school district. [6]
In July 2019, the district hired Stephanie Eisenmenger as the first principal. [7] Groundbreaking occurred in November 2019. There were plans to open in-person use of the school earlier, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota the school itself was not yet open in July 2020. It is centered on career and technical education (CTE). [8] The district had anticipated that about 100 students would enroll at the school. [9] The school opened in fall 2020. [10]
The enrollment at the end of the 2020-2021 school year was almost 400. [9]
In 2022, the Lieutenant Governors' STEM Scholarship Program gave the school $1,000 as an award because the curricula had science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content, and the funds were to be used on weather-related content. [3]
By February 2021, the gymnasium opened, and that month it began its athletics programs; the school is not under tribal law so, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it did not have to follow tribal directives to end athletics temporarily. This meant would-be athletes transferred to Lakota Tech. [10] In November 2020, the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) decided that a student wishing to participate in a school athletics program at a particular school may move to that school if the student's previous school had suspended its own athletics programs. [11]
The Lakota are a Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux, they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western Dakota (Wičhíyena). Their current lands are in North and South Dakota. They speak Lakȟótiyapi—the Lakota language, the westernmost of three closely related languages that belong to the Siouan language family.
Oglala Lakota County is a county in southwestern South Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,672. Oglala Lakota County does not have a functioning county seat; Hot Springs in neighboring Fall River County serves as its administrative center. The county was created as a part of the Dakota Territory in 1875, although it remains unorganized. Its largest community is Pine Ridge.
Pine Ridge is a census-designated place (CDP) and the most populous community in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,138 at the 2020 census. It is the tribal headquarters of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Porcupine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 925 at the 2020 census.
Wounded Knee is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 364 at the 2020 census.
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota, with a small portion of it extending into Nebraska. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was created by the Act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888. in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border. It consists of 3,468.85 sq mi (8,984 km2) of land area and is one of the largest reservations in the United States.
Whiteclay is a census-designated place in Sheridan County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 10 at the 2010 census.
Red Shirt is a small unincorporated Oglala Lakota village southeast of Hermosa in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. It is on the Pine Ridge Reservation, just outside Badlands National Park.
Alex White Plume is the former vice president and president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, located on South Dakota of the United States. He served as president from June 30, 2006 to November 2006 after Cecilia Fire Thunder was impeached.
Richard A. Wilson was elected chairman of the Oglala Lakota of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he served from 1972–1976, following re-election in 1974.
The Oglala are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the United States.
Theresa B. "Huck" Two Bulls was an attorney, prosecutor and politician in the United States and the Oglala Sioux Tribe. In 2004 she was elected as Democratic member of the South Dakota Senate, representing the 27th district, the first American Indian woman to be elected to the state legislature. She served until 2008. That year Two Bulls was elected as president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, the second woman to serve in this position. She served one term, which was two years.
Red Cloud Indian School is a private, Catholic, K–12 school run by the Jesuits in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota. It is located in the Diocese of Rapid City and serves Oglala Lakota Native American children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Oglala Lakota College (OLC) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Kyle, South Dakota. It enrolls 1,456 students enrolled part- and full-time. OLC serves the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which has a population of about 26,000 and covers 3,468 square miles in southwestern South Dakota.
Kevin Killer is a Native American activist and politician. He served as president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (2020-2022). He served as a Democratic member of the South Dakota House of Representatives from 2009 to 2017 and the South Dakota Senate from 2017 to 2019, representing the 27th district. He lives in Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
Julian R. Bear Runner is a former president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe from 2018 to 2020. When elected, Bear Runner was the second-youngest person ever elected as president of the tribe.
Pine Ridge School (PRS) is a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-operated K-12 school in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. It is within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Its high school program is one of five high schools that are within the reservation boundaries. The school's cornerstone was placed on February 8, 1879. The current high school facility opened in 1995.
Oglala Lakota County School District 65-1 (OLCSD) is a public school district headquartered in the Batesland School in Batesland, South Dakota. It is in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Little Wound School is a tribal K-12 school in Kyle, South Dakota. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). It is located in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It is named after Little Wound.
Marty Two Bulls Sr is an American editorial cartoonist. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 2021, but the award was not given that year.
14 New Wolf Creek Road Pine Ridge, SD 57770- Compare with the Pine Ridge CDP map. The school has a Pine Ridge postal address but is not in the CDP.